# Mr. Remnant — Short Fiction character guide

> Mr. Remnant in Short Fiction by Arthur Machen.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Remnant, Now Remnant

**First appearance:** 0036-the-terror

## Snapshot

A practical inventor who builds a Z-ray device during the Terror, treating the uncanny as a problem of subterranean geography rather than of spirit.

## Who they are

Remnant moves through the Welsh countryside as a man of apparatus and explanation, hearing the wailing darkness dismissed by neighbours as Judgment Day while he coolly attributes it to a blowhole in the Tredonoc woods. His instinct to reduce the supernatural to mechanism sets him apart from the farmers and chapel-goers around him, yet the dog that haunts the lanes and begs at gates refuses every rational reading. As the Terror tightens, Remnant's inventions and his stubbornly materialist habits make him the story's hinge between old dread and modern contrivance.

## Relationships

### [Dr. Lewis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/characters/dr_lewis)

_professional_

Dr. Lewis and Mr. Remnant have a professional relationship, possibly as doctor and patient or colleague.

### [Dr. Lewis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/characters/dr_lewis)

_professional_

Dr. Lewis and Mr. Remnant have a professional relationship, possibly as doctor and patient or colleague.

### [Dr. Lewis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/characters/dr_lewis)

_professional_

Dr. Lewis and Mr. Remnant have a professional relationship, possibly as doctor and patient or colleague.

## In the story

### [The Soldiers’ Rest](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/the-soldiers-rest)

The wounded soldier who narrates his war experiences and is comforted in the inn.

### [The Terror](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/the-terror)

A local figure who observes the terror and contributes to the growing sense of dread.

### [III: The Doctors Theory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/iii-the-doctors-theory)

Introduces the theory of double personality as an explanation for the murders.

### [IV: The Spread of the Terror](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/iv-the-spread-of-the-terror)

Offers a philosophical theory at the club that the murders are the result of an inconceivable German method.

### [V: The Incident of the Unknown Tree](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/v-the-incident-of-the-unknown-tree)

Theorizes a connection between animal attacks and the recent mysterious deaths.

### [Mr. Remnant’s Z-Ray](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/vi-mr-remnant-s-z-ray)

Insists on his Z-Ray theory, attributing recent deaths and attacks to German 'suggestions' sent via the ray.

### [VII: The Case of the Hidden Germans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/vii-the-case-of-the-hidden-germans)

Mentioned in Lewis's recollection of the night of Remnant's visit and the strange tree in his garden.

### [VIII: What Mr. Merritt Found](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/viii-what-mr-merritt-found)

Remnant is mentioned as having explored the marsh and speculated on the cause of the death there.

### [IX: The Light on the Water](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/ix-the-light-on-the-water)

Remnant appears at the club, reiterating his theory of 'commanded suicide' and the Z-Ray, though Lewis avoids the topic.

### [At Treff Loyne Farm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/xi-at-treff-loyne-farm)

Remnant hears a gardener's account of the hollow wailing sound and speculates it might be caused by a subterranean blowhole.

### [XIV: The End of the Terror](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/xiv-the-end-of-the-terror)

Referenced as having said the Terror was 'outside theory'.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/characters/mr_remnant
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/characters